The Two-Way

12:40 pm

Thu May 3, 2012

Syrian Security Forces Attack Aleppo University

A handout picture released by the Syrian opposition's Shaam News Network shows anti-regime graffiti sprayed on the walls of Aleppo University.

AFP/Getty Images

Syrian security forces stormed Aleppo University today, killing at least four. The incident underlines the continued violence in the country and signals that the unrest is spreading to cities that had remained peaceful.

Reuters reports that security personelle were joined by students wielding knives to attack a protest calling for the ouster of President Bashar Assad. Reuters reports:

"In an unusually bloody incident for Syria's hitherto fairly peaceful commercial hub and second city, video posted on the Internet showed young people chanting slogans against the ruling family and being drowned out by gunfire. Activists posted images of a bloodied corpse and what they said was a burning dormitory.

"A British-based opposition group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said at least four were killed and some 28 other students were wounded, three critically. Some 200 were arrested in the latest violence to breached a three-week-old U.N. truce."

Al-Arabiya reports that the security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition into the dorms on Wednesday night and Thursday morning they riffled through the students belongings. Quoting an activist, Al-Arabiya reports that some of the rooms had been torched.

The scene seem to fit in with videos uploaded to the internet by activists that show a protest, followed by security forces moving into the campus, followed by morning footage showing ransacked dormitories with broken windows.

Of course the bigger story, here, is that the cease fire agreed to as part of an international peace plan appears to have been repeatedly violated.